Improvement in breakwaters or piers



J. JOHNSON. Breakwater or Pier.

No. 214,299. Patented April 15,:1879.

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JOB JOHNSON, ()F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREAKWATERS OR PIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2 [4,299, dated Apxil15, 1879; application filed December 26, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOB JOHNSON, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,have invented an Improvement in Breakwaters or Piers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of this invention is to divide up and deflect the waves insuch a manner that the structure will not be injured by the force of thewater, and such structure will act as a breakwater to protect vessels,piers, &c., that are behind such breakwater.

I make use of vertical piles, that are placed zigzag in rows andconnected by angle-iron girders from the cap of one column to the next,so as to brace the columns firmly together; and I also use horizontaltie-bars between the columns, the same being attached to collars thatare around the columns near the water-line, and inclined combing-barsare introduced between the lower tie-bars and the upper girders to breakthe force of the waves by producing a counter or backward fiow of waterbroken into foam, that meets and lessens the force of the incomingstorm-wave; and I also hang chains, or bars, or wire ropes from thegirders or bars, which I term tranquilizers, against which the wavesbeat and lift or swing such tranquilizers until their Weight overcomesthe force of the water, and the watcr is thereby combed or chopped upinto spray and its force part-1y destroyed before coming into contactwith the rigid parts of the structure, thus availing of the inertia ofthe moving portions of the structure to lessen the unity of the movementof the water and the consequent concussion upon the breakwater or pier.

I prefer to leave the breakwater-pier open and unobstructed belowlow-water line, so as to avoid the filling up of the same with sand ormud that would prevent vessels approaching the pier; and to lessen thedownward wash of water as it rushes against the vertical piles, I employloose tubular cones around the piles and resting upon the sand or earth,

so that the water is deflected upward and does not wash the sand away.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the shore side of thebreakwater. Fig. 2 is a plan of the breakwater. Fig. 3 is a sectionalelevation of the same at the line at m, Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a similarview at the line y 3 Fig. 2

and Fig. 5 is a section of the cap and top of the pile.

I prefer to make the entire structure of iron, thoroughly coated withasphalt or similar water-proof material.

The piles a a are tubular, with pointed ends 12, driven or screwed intothe sand or bottom to the proper depth. I prefer and have representedthe point b with an annular groove, into which the column-tube isinserted, so as to connect the parts and prevent the end of the tubebeing bent or battered in forcing the point into the sand or earth. Thispoint is also, by preference, tubular.

Around each column there is the loose tubular cone or deflector c, thatrests upon the sand, for the purposes aforesaid of preventing the sandbeing washed away around the column by lateral currents, because thecone deflects the currents upwardly.

The rows of piles are not in line with each other; but they are placedzigzag, as illustrated in Fig. 2, so as to give a firmer base to thepier or breakwater, and prevent the rows of piles vibrating or swingingat their upper ends by the action of the waves.

At the top of each pile there is a cap, 0, made with an annular recessat the under side of the cap to receive the upper end of the column, andfrom these caps the T-shaped bars or girders h extend to the adjacentcolumns, and are bolted or riveted so as to firmly connect the piles attheir upper ends. Upon these girders timbers or flooring may be laid ifthe structure is to be used as a pier; but if employed only as abreakwater such flooring will not be used.

Around the piles, near the water-line, the collars l l are secured, andto these the ends of the T-shaped bars m are fastened and between thegirders h and these bars m there are inclined combing-bars n, that arealso -shaped by preference, so that the wave, as it sinks, will bedivided and a counter-current set up by the water running down theseinclined bars, which current of water, in the form of foam, moves in theopposite direction to the incoming storm-wave and lessens its force, asaforesaid.

The suspended tranquilizers are represented in the form of hinged barsor chains 8, that hang below the girders h, and may also be employedbelow the bars m. These tranquilizers may be made of single or doublechains, or ropes, or hinged bars or links, and weights may be connectedat their lower ends. As a wave rushes against the structure thesesuspended tranquilizers are swung with it until the weight resting uponthe water is greater than the impact of the water, when suchtranquilizers act as separators to divide up the water and comb the sameinto spray and foam, which reacts against the rush of the nextsucceeding waves, and so lessens the concussion upon the structure andprevents the waves rolling past the breakwater; hence the surface behindthe breakwater will be comparatively quiescent.

I am aware that a breakwater has been made with plates that are hingedat their upper ends, and against which the waves act. They, however, arenot free to swing in all directions, and the structure is strained bythe concussion of the waves against the plates, and the latter areliable to injury, and do not act simply as tranquilizers to the water asitflows past.

It will be apparent that the tranquilizers are free to swing in anydirection in consequence of being sustained by links or linked together;and hence that they are adapted to act upon the waves regardless of thedirection in which the waves may be running, and the pier only has tosupport such tranquilizers and is not strained by them.

I claim as my invention- 1. The vertical piles placed zigzag in thelongitudinal ranges, in combination with the caps e and girders h,substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the piles a, of the loose tubular cones o, forthe purposes set forth.

3. The suspended tranquilizers formed of chains, links, ropes, orjointed bars, that are free to swing in any direction, in combinationwith the breakwater or pier, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 20th day of December, A. D. 1878.

JOB JOHNSON.

Witnesses HAROLD SERRELL, GEO. T. PINCKNEY.

